Hello!
I wanted to take a moment to voice my love and admiration for the new Castle Wars CTF Social playlist, and to argue for it to be kept as a permanent social playlist. I know there have likely been hundreds of threads before this one with people asking for this or that playlist to be kept around and why they think they’re the best thing ever and I’m sure the vast majority of those have gone unheeded, but I thought I might as well try anyways!
I’ve been playing Halo multiplayer since Halo 2. I’ve scooped up every game at their midnight release and there hasn’t been a Halo yet whose multiplayer I haven’t genuinely loved. I’ve played Halo 5’s multiplayer for nearly two years now; I’ve had endless hours of fun in Warzone, Grifball, Infection, Firefight, Action Sack, and Arena, and I’ve been through the ringer that was the grind for the Achilles armor. And I’ve loved it all. But I’ve hit a bit of a wall for the last year or so where the gametypes that Halo 5 has to offer don’t really excite me all that much anymore. That is, until Castle Wars CTF.
I’ll readily admit that I’ve always been a big fan of melee-weapon (martial combat) only gametypes and playlists in Halo games, which I think is kind of a thing that a lot of the Halo community frowns upon. Regardless, I can barely describe how much genuine fun and excitement I personally experienced when I played through my first match of Castle Wars. And even now, with a good couple dozen games under my belt, I’m STILL in love with it! The thrill of the initial Spartan charge out of the castle gates, Warthogs and Mongooses racing by like a cavalry charge as grenades fall from the sky like a volley of arrows! The violent impact of the two opposing teams as they crash into each other in the center area, with the team with the strongest formation and skill usually taking control of the field and charging onward towards the enemy’s gates! The panic and confusion and exhilaration of storming through the enemy castle’s gate and into their “courtyard”, defenders pouring from unseen “guardhouses” to try to fight back the onslaught as the strongest and swiftest Spartans charge upwards towards the flag! And of course the thrill of meeting a foe of equal skill on the battlefield, alone, and dueling to the death with nothing but a well-honed blade, with the greater warrior coming out victorious! And the gametype feels so easy to just pick up and play: you don’t need to memorize where weapon spawns are, you don’t need to worry about power vehicles spawning, and you don’t need to worry about being spawn camped into oblivion; you have a sword, your enemy has a sword, rush out there and work with your team to slice and dice your way to the enemy’s flag and victory. As simple as that!
The entire experience feels so reminiscent to me of the old Battle of Thermopylae, where the “300” Spartans held back the onslaught of the Persian army by defending a narrow path, where sheer numbers counted for nothing. The idea is exceedingly cool to me then that the Castle Wars maps and playlist might be like a War Games Spartan IV training simulation based on the Battle of Thermopylae and the tactics of the Spartans of yore, updated to reflect the battlefields of 2558! I also admit, if you couldn’t already tell, that I’m a giant nerd that loves the works of Tolkien and George R. R. Martin, and with Game of Thrones Season 7 just a month away, I think being able to watch the big, epic medieval-style battles taking place in the new episodes and then hoping onto Halo 5 to have some similarly epic sword battles of my own would be one of the coolest things ever!
Welp, that’s my 2 cents (or based on the length of this essay, more like 20 cents) on the Castle Wars playlist. If we can’t have it has a permanent playlist I would at the very least IMMENSELY appreciate seeing it featured as often as possible! Maybe particularly around the Game of Thrones Season 7 debut? :3
TL;DR - I think the Castle Wars CTF playlist adds something fantastically new and fun to Halo 5 which beautifully simulates the thrill of martial combat (such as the Battle of Thermopylae!), provides a simple, easy to pick-up-and-play experience based purely around team cohesion and sword skill, and should be considered as a potential permanent addition to Halo 5’s social playlists!
~Fawkesequus
